Radon in well waters in the Kraków area

Abstract

The method and the results of radon concentration measurements in water samples are presented. Since May 2000, measurements of radon concentration in well waters in the Kraków area have been carried out – both in urban wells (depth above 50 meters) and in other private wells (depth of several meters). The ionisation chamber AlphaGUARD PQ 2000PRO along with the additional special equipment AquaKIT were used for determination of radon concentration in water samples. A total of 45 wells were examined for radon concentration in water—19 urban wells, 21 private ones (from Nowa Huta, Ojcowska, Wola Justowska area – parts of Kraków) and 5 mineral water sources. Wola Justowska is a region where tectonics faults occur and radon can easily migrate from deep basement structure. All the obtained values of radon concentration are below 12 Bq/l. These preliminary results do not show a direct correlation between geological structure and radon concentration in water samples. However, further investigation is needed and is planned to be undertaken.

Revised version of a paper presented at the 6^th Isotope Workshop of the European Society for Isotope Research, June 29 to July 4, 2002, Tallinn, Estonia.

Keywords:

• Hydrogeology
• Kraków
• Radioactivity
• Radon
• Well water

Acknowledgement

This work was partly supported by Research Grant No. 6 PO4D 026 19 from the Polish Committee for Scientific Research.

Notes

Revised version of a paper presented at the 6^th Isotope Workshop of the European Society for Isotope Research, June 29 to July 4, 2002, Tallinn, Estonia.